It was the iPod Phone, a mobile phone that Apple developed before the iPhone was announced.

What if the 2007 iPhone was a kind of iPod with scroll wheel front and camera and number pad on the back? This may sound crazy, but the truth is that Steve Jobs was going to make this happen. At least that’s what Tony Fadell, who worked at Apple from 2001 to 2010 as senior vice president of the iPod division, said. The engineer showed TechCrunch some of the prototypes that the Cupertino company ordered to be built in secret before finally announcing the first iPhone, and among them this curious device called ipod phones.

Fadell comments to the aforementioned publication that Steve Jobs’ idea was create a device that retains the iconic design of the iPod, but with the most important functions of a mobile phone. The idea came immediately after the failure of the ROKR E1, a Motorola cell phone that had an integrated iTunes player. Also before Apple started working on its first smartphone, the iPhone. So Jobs had prototypes based on the look of the iPod and its control wheel before he created an entirely new computer and Fadell got to work.

The former senior vice president of iPod clarifies that the “iPod Phone” prototype was built by a third party manufacturer. describes it as good idea that didn’t work “for many reasons”. The iPod Phone, in particular, has an interface very similar to the 2nd generation iPod nano, with a small screen and scroll wheel at the bottom. The back, on the other hand, was completely different as it included the camera and number pad. Thus, if the user needed to make a call, he only had to turn the device and dial the number.

The iPod Phone Had a Plus Version Before It Became an iPhone

Tony Fadell and his team did not see Jobs’ idea, and he insisted on continuing to develop a mobile phone with a scroll wheel feature. Actually, they created a second prototype called “iPod Plus Phone”..

“We created the iPod Plus phone. You took an earpiece that had a microphone and an ear. You could use the scroll wheel to select numbers and names, or you could dial with it like a rotary phone, which was a complete death. You couldn’t type anything because there was no text entry. But it was an iPod Classic with a phone inside.”

Tony Fadell on the creation of the first iPhone.

Tony Fadell says that Steve Jobs “put a lot of pressure on them” to make this iPod Plus Phone work. However, they had no choice but to put the idea out of their minds. “[Jobs] I had things very clear, until they ceased to be so, or it became quite clear that they would not work, “the engineer assured TechCrunch. “At some point, we all said, ‘No, that won’t work. However, the development of these prototypes they wouldn’t give rise to what would be the iPhone. They served as guidance for the final model, announced in 2007.